Disneyland Prepares to Welcome a new Haunt in its Mansion

By Robert Niles: Disneyland's adding something to its Haunted Mansion, but the park isn't yet saying what that will be. Disney just finished removing the Mansion's annual holiday overlay, and sharp-eyed visitors have noticed the addition of a new, opaque window on the roof of the mansion as the Doombuggies exit the attic into the graveyard. And today, Disneyland confirmed that will be the location of something new in the mansion. Disney teased the addition in a Disney Parks Blog post:

"Those with a keen eye will notice something strange when they leave the mansion and enter its spooky cemetery on their Doom Buggies … but what disquieting metamorphosis is happening in this space?"

The overwhelming choice of fans who've seen or heard about the new window is that it will be the new home of the Hatbox Ghost.

The Hatbox Ghost, without his hatbox, on display in the Imagineering pavilion at the 2013 D23 Expo

The Hatbox Ghost was an original character from the Mansion that Disney removed soon after the ride's debut. The character was a hunched, skeletal ghost whose head disappeared, only to materialize in the hatbox the ghost was carrying. The disappearing/reappearing head effect relied on lighting, and pretty much failed. But absence can make the heart grow fonder, and the Hatbox Ghost became a legend among fans over the years. In 2013, Disney Imagineers created a new Hatbox Ghost animatronic, minus the hatbox, for the D23 Expo in Anaheim.

When I rode the Mansion this week, that new window looked to me too small to be for that Hatbox Ghost animatronic I saw in 2013, unless it were to be staged far behind the window, which would be tough given the relative lack of space in the show building there. But that doesn't rule out a different version of the Hatbox Ghost in that space. (Remember, the D23 ghost didn't have the hatbox, which anything called a "Hatbox Ghost" would have to have, right?)

If you're planning to visit Disneyland in the next few weeks, keep your eyes open for a new ghost in the mansion, whatever it might turn out to be.

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